Lead clinching mechanisms



June 14, 1960 J. E. WALSH 2,940,083

LEAD CLINCHING MECHANISMS Original Filed Jan. 27. 1956 6 Sheets-Sheet 1 in v e n for John E Wa/s/z June 14, 1960 J. E. WALSH 2,940,083

LEAD CLINCHING MECHANISMS Original Filed Jan. 27. 1956 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 In ventor John E Walsh 5 his June 14, 1960 J. E. WALSH LEAD CLINCHING MECHANISMS 6 Sheets-Sheet 3 Original Filed Jan. 27, 1956 @h NR In men for John E Walsh June 14, 1960 J. E. WALSH 2,940,083

LEAD CLINCHING MECHANISMS Original Filed Jan. 27. 1956 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 Inventor John E Walsh June 14, 1960 J. E. WALSH LEAD CLINCHING MECHANISMS Original Filed Jan. 27. 1956 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 Inventor John E Walsh \fy his Az't LEAD CLINCHING MECHANISMS John E. Walsh, Beverly, Mass, assignor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Flemington, N.J., a corporation of New Jersey Original application Jan. 27, 1956, Ser. No. 561,812,

now Patent No. 2,850,737, dated Sept. 9, 1958. Digildzedsand this application Sept. 27, 1956, Ser. No.

2 Claims. (Cl. 1-211) This invention relates to machines for securing components and the like on work pieces. More particularly, the invention pertains to improved mechanism by means of which such machines, after installing the leads, tabs or other terminations of an article in a work piece, may efiectively clinch the terminations in a desired manner. The invention is herein illustrated as applied to a machine for installing disk type capacitors in printed wiring boards, but it is not limited in use to mechanism for clinching any particular component or in any particular machine and may, in fact, be used to secure the terminations of nonelectrical articles. The term lead is accordingly herein used in a comprehensive sense.

The present invention is disclosed but not claimed in my copending application, Serial No. 561,812, filed January 27, 1956, now Patent No. 2,850,737, dated September 9, 1958, relating to a machine for inserting disk type capacitors, the instant application being a divisional thereof. In the copending application referred to, means is disclosed for successively mounting electronic components on a chassis such as a wiring board bearing a printed circuit, the leads of the components being thrust through preformed holes in the board so that the projecting lead ends may then be bent against the board electrically to connect the component with the circuit. Other types of component inserting machines, and fastener inserting machines in some instances, also require in their organization a reliable means for securing projecting terminations. It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an improved and highly versatile mechanism for effectively clinching leads or the like.

In accordance with the object just stated, a feature of the invention resides in the provision, in a machine of the type mentioned, of a pair of anvils movable toward and from a work piece against which protruding leads are to be wiped, means mounting each of said anvils for individual rotation about a point of protrusion of one of said leads, each of said anvils having a lead-engaging end formed with a lead-directing groove, and means for operating said anvils radially with respect to the corresponding point of protrusion of said leads to bend and wipe them alternatively inwardly or outwardly.

The above and other features of the invention, together with novel details and combinations of parts, will now be described in greater particularity in connection with an illustrative machine in which the invention is embodied and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. l is a view in side elevation of a machine for installing components such as disk type capacitors, the parts occupying their rest or starting positions and many of them being more fully shown and described in the above-mentioned application;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section, on a larger scale, of a portion of the machine shown in Fig. l and indicating the machine head and driving connections;

Fig. 3 is a vertical section of the base portion of the nitecl States Patent O'ice,

machine, including an air motor and clinching mechanism operable thereby;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged plan view of the anvils shown in Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of one of the anvils and its associated parts;

Fig. 6 is a bottom view of components having leads respectively clinched in ditferent directions by the anvils;

Fig. 7 is a view in elevation looking to the left in Fig. 2 and showing driving connections between the air motor and shafts controlling inserting mechanism in the machine head;

Fig. 8 is a time chart for certain operating parts in the machine cycle; and

Fig. 9 is a wiring diagram schematically showing one hook-up of the machine.

The illustrated machine is herein shown and described as being individually operated but it will be understood that the machine is, with minor modification, in its control circuit, readily mountable at a station of a conveyorized assembly line, for example one of the type disclosed in a copending application filed September 27, 1954, in the names of Adolph S. Dorosz and Thomas W. Snow, Serial No. 458,328. r

While any suitable means may be employed for insuring reliable delivery of components in ordered arrangement to the illustrated machine, a tubular, longitudinally slotted raceway 18 (Fig. l) and a straddle rail 20 are shown herein for use in combination with a rotary hopper 22 of the type disclosed and claimed in a copending application Serial No. 525,330, filed July 29, 1955, in the name of Milton H. Roske. This organization is well adapted to keep the raceway well filled with similarly oriented components such as disk type capacitors C, respectively, having leads L. Successive components are accordingly fed under the influence of gravity toward a machine head generally designated 32 (Figs. 1 and 2) supported by a hollow C-frame 34 and including inserting inslrumentalities which need not here be described in detail, said head being adapted to be adjusted about a vertical axis to thrust the leads of successive components endwise, as by means of an inserting bar 56 (Fig. 2) through preformed holes in a work piece such as a circuit board 36. Any suitable means may be employed for registering and supporting the board 36 relatively to the head 32 so that the lead receiving holes of the boards will be properly positioned to receive the respective leads, it suflicing for present purposes to show board supporting means simply in the form of members 38, '38.

Briefly to describe the means provided in the illustrated machine for operating the head 32, to insert the leads of successive components as indicated in Fig. 3, an air motor 172 (Figs. 3 and 7) secured in the base of the C-frame 34 is connected to a suitable source of air under pressure by a pipe 174, admission of the air being under the control of a solenoid valve S11 (Figs. 1, 3 and 9). A piston rod 178 of the motor is accordingly movable upwardly against the resistance of a return spring 180 (Fig. 3) and operable to raise a vertically reciprocable rack 188 ('Figs. 2 and 7). The latter, through a pinion gear 192, rotates a drive shaft 194- and this shaft, by means of a conventional sprag type of one-way'clutch generally designated 196, imparts a single, complete revolution to a cam plate 202 secured on a shaft journaled in the C-l'rame. The arrangement is such that upon the rack 188 reaching its upper limit of movement, and upon actuation of control means hereinafter described, the spring 180 is eifective to retract the rack to starting position, and the clutch 196 permits the shaft 194- to rotate reversely without reversing rotation of the cam plate 202. Each revolution'of this plate corresponds with a cycle of the inserting instrumentalities in the head 32, a cam slot 206 (Fig: 2) in the plate being effective through shafting 'clinching surfaces 322, rounded ends of the levers 328 220 to control the reciprocable component inserting bar 56, and a cam slot 208 (Fig. 2) in the plate being effective through shafting 230 to control component guide means 122 (Figs. 1 and 2) cooperative with the inserting bar.

The upstroke of the motor 172 is also utilized to move anvil mechanism generally designated 268 (Fig. 3) from an inoperative position upwardly to a position adjacent to the under side of'the wiring board 36, a position in which the downwardly protruding leads of a component inserted by the head 32 may now be directionally clinched to complete their physical and electrical connection to circuitry (not shown) which is supported by the board. The upper end of the piston rod 178 is provided with a coupling 182 (Figs. 3 and 7) that carries 'a crossbar 270 are received between horizontal disks formed on the upper end of a vertically reciprocable piston rod 332 (Fig. 3) extending in the cylinder 292. Threaded on the rod 332 is a piston 334 which is movable upwardly upon admission of air under pressure via a conduit 336 to the lower side of the piston, and is movable downwardly upon admission of air under pressure via a hose 338 to the upper side of the piston, the hose and conduit alternatively serving as an exhaust. The limit of upward movement of the cylinder 292, and hence of the lead V engaging surfaces 322, is adjustably determined by engagewhich supports at its ends a pair of depending levers 272, 272'. Each lever 272 is provided at its lower end with a pin 274 (Fig. 3) received in a lost motion slot 276 in one end of a bell crank lever 278' pivoted in the base of the C-frame. The other corresponding ends of the levers 278 have pin-and-slot connection with corresponding ends of parallel links 280 (one shown), the front ends of which are pivotally connected to the upper ends, respectively, of hell crank levers 282 (one shown), fulcrumed at 284 on a'bracket 286 (Fig. 3) secured in the Q-firame. Thebracket 286, in addition to serving as a vertical guideway for the anvil mechanism to be described, threadedly receives the upper end of a clamping bolt 288, the lower end of which extends through a bar 290 spanning an opening in a workbench 'or other support on which the machine is to be mounted in selected position. The lower ends of the levers 282 are pivotally connected to an anvilcarrying cylinder 292 that is thus moved upward against the resistance of return springs 294, 296 (Fig. 3) respectively biasing the levers 27,8 and the links 280. An'anvil holder 298 (Figs. 1, 3, and 4) has its hub mounted in the upper end of the cylinder 292, the holder being held against relative heightwise movement by a rod 300 trans- J versely extending through the cylinder and secured'in a peripheral slotof the holder by a set screw 302. Screws 304*(Fig. 4) secure on oppositely disposed marginal por-.

tions of the perimeter. of the holder a pair of semicircular clamping rings 306, 308, which cooperate with a recessed portion of the holder to determine guideways for apair of individually adjustable blocks 310, 310 (Figs. 3, 4 and 5), walls 312, 312 (Fig. 4) of the recessed portion of the holder being semicircular and having equal radii, and centersthat are spaced apart to correspond to the distance between the axes of the wiring board holes. An outer portion of a wedge-shaped base of each block 310 accordingly engages a wall 312, and an inner portion of the base is retained by an arcuate guide disk 314 screwed to the holder.

Mounted in a horizontal, radially extending guideway 316 formed in each block 310 is a rack 318 having an integral, upwardly inclined anvil arm 320, the upper. end

of which is provided with an inverted U-shaped surface 322 forbending and wiping a lead inwardly or outwardly inany selected horizontal direction considered radially from the point of protrusion of the lead from its wiring board hole. For convenience in selecting desired directions of lead clinching the blocks 310 each carry reference pins 324 which may be registered with adjacent degree scales formed on/the rings 306, 308, the zero points of the scales in this instance being shown (Fig. 4).as.lying ona line contained by the plane passing through the axes of the unclinched leads when inserted. The surfaces322 are preferably concave or grooved to provide a centralizing eifec't and thus improve directional control over the leads. Radial lead-wipingjrnovement ofthe respective surfaces 322 toward and from theirlcorr'esponding lead ment of a surface 340I(F-ig. 3) of the cylinder with a nut 342 threaded on a stud 344 secured in'the O-frame.

By way of reviewing the operation of the machine and describing its electrical controls, as herein provided for purposes of illustratidmreference may be had to Figs. 7 and 9. The latter schematically indicates the machine as fitted with a manually operative control switch M1 (Figs. .1 and 9) that is closed to energize a coil K1 through a normally closed contact K3A, thus closing contacts KIA, K113, and KIC. The coil K1 is now maintained energised throughthe' contacts KIA and K3A, though the switch M1 be released. As a consequence, the solenoid valve S11 (Figs. 1 and 3) is energized through the contact KSA and the contact K1B,*the valve S11 admitting air under pressure to themotor 172 to cause upward movement of the, rack 188 (Figs. 2 and 7) which .operates through th'e'clutch 196 cyclically to actuate the head 32 as above explained. A solenoid valve S13 (Figs. 1, 7 and 9) for unlatching the cam plate 202 is'energized (simultaneously with the valve S11)through a normally closed contact K2D and the'contact KIC. The solenoid S13 is arranged to operate parallel links 346 (one shown, Figs. 1 and 7) connected to one end of a bell crank lever 348 pivoted on a bracket 350 secured to the C-h-ame. "The other end of the lever 348 is forked to receive and actuate a pin 352 afiixed in a spring-pressed'plunger 354 carrying a roll 356 (Fig.7) The latter normally is disposed to engage a hardened insert 358 (Figs. 2 and 7) secured in a slot formed in the cam plate 202, but is retracted therefrom upon encrgization of the solenoid valve 813 to permit rotation of the cam plate 202 through exactly 360 in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 7. Theupward movement of the rack 188 also operates to elevatethe anvil-carryingcylinder 292 'as described to position the surfaces 322 hcightwise as determined by the nut 342. As soon as the rack 188 begins to move upwardly, a switch M4 (Figs. 1, 3, and 9) is'allowed by an arm 368 secured. to one of the links 272 to close, thus energizing a coil K4. As a consequence, contacts K4A, K413, and K40 close, and either a solenoid valve S12 or S14 is energized through contacts K43 and KZA, depending on the position of a double-throw toggle switch TS (Figs. 1, 2, and 9) which thus is effective optlonally to provide directional clinching either inwardly, i.e., so that the lead ends are wiped by a pulling action of the anvil arms 320, or outwardly as by a pushing action on the leads. The function of the normally closed contact KZA is to insure that the piston 334 is preliminarily shifted up or down if necessary to enable a clinching stroke to be made in the desired direction by the anvil anns. if the solenoid .valve S14, for example, is energized, and admits air under prcssurevia the conduit 336, the piston 334 will automatically'and immediately assume an initial lower position inthe cylinder292 and Lt-hen be forced upwardly so that the surfaces 322can be .of the rack 188' and rotation. of the driving shaft 194 a rotary cam 36.2 (Figs. 2 and 7)..afiixed on the latter is effective to close a cam switch M2 whereby a coil K2 is eneregized through the contact K4A., 'Thereupon the coil K2 opens the contact K2D to tie-energize the solenoid valve S13 and permit release and return of the plunger 354. The coil K2 remains energized through the contact K4A and a now closed contact K20. The valves S12 and S14 are energized and de-energized through the contact K4B and through the now open contact K2A or the now closed contact KZB, depending on the position of the toggle switch TS.

Installation and lead clinching being completed by the head instrumentalities and anvil mechanism, respectively, as the rack 188 reaches its upper limit of movement, a switch M3 (Figs. 2 and 7) is closed by engagement therewith of a thumb screw 364 adjustably carried by the coupling 186. As a consequence, a coil K3 is energized through the contact K40. A contact K3B thereupon closes to maintain the coil K3 energized, and the contact K3A is now opened to de-energize the coil K1. The contact K133 consequently opens to de-energize the solenoid valve S11 and allow the rack 18% to return downwardly to its starting position, the contacts KiA and KIC also opening. When the rack 188 thus returns to its initial position, the switch M4 is opened to tie-energize the coil K4. The contact K4A opens, and the coil K2 is de-energized, allowing the contact KZD to close, and the contact K2C to open. The contact K43 opens, de-energizing either the solenoid valve S12 or S14, and the contact KZA is closed, and the contact K233 opened. Finally, the contact K40 opens to de-energize the coil K3, causing the contact K3A to close and the contact K3B to open. The machine has then completed one cycle of operations and is ready to begin a new cycle.

It will be appreciated from the foregoing that the invention affords a reliable, high production machine capable of directionally clinching the leads of components securely and in a manner to effect electrical connection.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a machine for installing the leads of a component on a chassis, means movably mounted to thrust the leads endwise through the chassis, and anvil mechanism movable toward and from the chassis in time relation to said means for clinching the protruding ends of the leads in selected directions, said mechanism including leadwiping anvils, and means operative optionally to move said anvils transversely of their corresponding unclinched and protruding leads in either of two opposite directions.

2. Lead clinching mechanism for a component installing machine, comprising an anvil carrier movable toward and from a chassis from which the leads to be clinched protrude, a pair of blocks mounted on said carrier for individual adjustment about corresponding axes, said axes being parallel and spaced apart according to the distance between the chassis points from which the leads protrude, an anvil ar-m slidably mounted in each block and carrying a lead-wiping surface for transverse radial wiping movement with respect to an adjacent protruding lead, and means automatically operative when said wiping surfaces have been moved by said carrier to positions adjacent to saidprotrusion points for causing said surfaces selectively to clinch the leads either inwardly or outwardly.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

